8.30.2010

My littlest model was over today - she was sick last night but seemed fine during her stay with me - and consented to having her photo taken with my latest shawl. The photos I have of this shawl just don't do it justice; I was hoping Leia could help fix that today. Still not sure it's showing to best advantage. . . need to think of some other way to show it off. Hmmmmmmmmm . . .

8.28.2010

As much time as Lily spends in front of the camera, she should have her own blog.Silly girl. She hears the shutter click and comes running. The other two couldn't care less.And if there's a fresh FO* all nicely pinned out and drying? Absolute Lily heaven.

8.27.2010

I should have been working on class samples this week, but this shawl caught my eye and I had.to.make.it.right.now. Actually, I needed something soothing to work on in the hospital while my father-in-law had his (successful!) hip surgery. This fit the bill perfectly. There are three sections, each a different pattern, but each a simple 2-row repeat. Easy to remember but changing often enough to keep my interest. The scallops in the third section are what caught my eye and made this a 'hafta have'.

The pattern is 'Juliette Shawl' from Dora Ohrenstein's new book "Creating Crochet Fabric". The yarn is Lambspun's 'Prism', a 50/50 wool/silk blend that I bought probably 4 years ago in Colorado. I've tried to use this yarn a couple of times but always ended up frogging the project. Guess it was just waiting for the perfect pattern to come along. This is shawl #9 for '10 Shawls in 2010' - only one more to go. Details on my 'Juliette' are here.

8.22.2010

Somebody was supposed to be taking a nap. Somebody's bed was too close to a drawer with some of grandma's yarn stash. Somebody figured out how to open the drawer, pull out the yarn bags, open them and dump the contents into her bed. Somebody was very upset when her bed was moved, the yarn put away and she actually had to go to sleep. Somebody is getting very good at keeping grandma on her toes.

8.21.2010

8.20.2010

If you're in the area, please join us for a fun fiber day this Saturday. Lots of great vendors including RedFish DyeWorks, Newtons Knits, Anacapa Fine Yarns, BeeMiceElf spinning fibers, Morro Fleece Works and more! And all the daytime activities are FREE! See you there!

8.18.2010

I finished shawl #8 this week, so that makes one shawl completed every month this year. I'm still on track to do 10 12 shawls in 2010. (Want to see some seriously gorgeous shawls? Check out the August submissions in Ravelry's '10 Shawls in 2010' group here.)

This is Lion Brand's 'South Bay Shawlette' done in 100% silk Araucania 'Chaiten'. Love this pattern; so easy to do and so pretty. Details are on my Ravelry page (here). I made this one larger than the pattern and I think it's a little too big for me. I'm seriously thinking about ripping out 8-10 rows and making it more the shawlette it was intended to be. Hmmmmm, decisions, decisions. I think I'll wear it this weekend and see how I feel after that.

My pretty Lily, 'helping' me block the shawl.At almost a year, she's getting to be a very big girl.

8.16.2010

8.15.2010

Leia's second birthday was last Friday - another baby born on the 13th, just like both her aunts - and her party was Saturday when daddy was home to help her celebrate. It was a fun day, especially for the kids. After a short nap at grandma's house, Leia got to jump on the jolly jump - watch her big brother be silly on the jolly jump - teach Auntie Rie-Rie how to jump - lounge in the pool - when it wasn't occupied by the big kids - play ball - supervise the grilling - open presents - take pictures - blow out candles - eat cake - and generally have a very great day. Happy birthday, Leia!

8.13.2010

I've mentioned before what a camera hog Lily-kitty is. Saw her posed on the bed like this and she stayed there, watching me, while I went to get a camera and took several shots. As soon as I switched the camera off, she rolled over and got up. A little kitty beefcake, anyone?

A couple of people asked about my new router. I bought the Netgear Wireless-N 300. We tried to get it at Fry's but it was out of stock - and I would have walked away anyway rather than continue dealing with the very pushy, obnoxious sales clerk - and ended up at Best Buy where it was on sale for under $60.

With Netgear's very clear instructions, it took me less than 30 minutes to switch from the old to the new - and that included untangling cables. So far, I'm very pleased (hope that doesn't jinx me.) We have a strong, continuous signal throughout the house, even in rooms separated from the router by several walls, and we can have multiple computers online at the same time - neither of which our old router could handle.

There is a Wireless-N 150 that covers less area (for smaller houses) and a larger, business version that the tech guy said was overkill and too much trouble to get working correctly. Hope this helps - let me know if you have more questions and I'll try to answer them.

8.12.2010

8.11.2010

I'm the resident geek in our household (scary thought!), so when our wireless computer network started slooooooowing down and giving very intermittent connections, it was my job to buy and install a new router. I carefully did my research - and then bought something totally different when we ran into a friend of Dick's at the computer store; he had paid a real-life geek to check out his system and tell him exactly what to buy, so - smart girl that I am - I bought what he did.That was over a month ago. One reason to stall problem was that the modem was buried behind the bookshelf in hubby's den. He unburied it and today - with fingers crossed - I powered everything down, unplugged, replugged, linked, dusted and successfully powered everything back up again. It's soooo much faster now, and - miracle of miracles - we can both be on the innernets at the same time!Leia was visiting today and wanted to help me play with all the pretty cables but she was quickly distracted by the books on hubby's bookshelf. She checked out several before choosing a small book on woodworking tools. Which she carried around with her, flipping pages, pointing at pictures and 'reading' to me for quite awhile. The funniest part? Reading while driving. Definitely a sign of things to come.

8.10.2010

He made himself at home, playing with our stash of building blocks, cars and the road blanket I made awhile back. Unlike the girls, who like constant attention from us, Miles is quite content to play by himself, with just occasional check-ins. Since I had some free time between those check-ins, I went with the grandma theme and whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.Unlike Naia who loves to help cook - mainly so she can lick the beaters and the bowl - Miles was quite content just to eat (and eat and eat)the finished cookies. I'm not positive, but I think he liked them. He's quite the cookie man.